FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

What brand of RO membrane is everyone using? All the ones on Amazon look about the same and they often fail early.


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I got tired of having to constantly buy jugs of distilled water so I got an RO system from bulk reef supply that I am very happy with. I live in Philadelphia where the tap water is pretty hard (~230 ppm) so I went with the 5 stage RO. Have been using the RO system to fill a 55 gallon barrel for about a year now and I still get 0 ppm water from it. 5 stage might have been overkill in my case because the 3 stage RO is cheaper, but it all depends on the tap water where you live.


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f1appyb1rd wrote: ↑Thu Feb 04, 2021 1:24 pm I got tired of having to constantly buy jugs of distilled water so I got an RO system from bulk reef supply that I am very happy with. I live in Philadelphia where the tap water is pretty hard (~230 ppm) so I went with the 5 stage RO. Have been using the RO system to fill a 55 gallon barrel for about a year now and I still get 0 ppm water from it. 5 stage might have been overkill in my case because the 3 stage RO is cheaper, but it all depends on the tap water where you live.


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Do you have an estimate of how many gallons of water you get per filter? How much does each filter cost? I’m just trying to see how many gallons of water I would have to use in order for it to be worth it.

It’s not really gallons of water per filter because the water passes through all 5 filters. My RO system is rated at 100 gallons per day. This works for me because I have a lot of plants to water and a full 55 gallon barrel lasts me a while. It is also kind of expensive, but I feel it was a wise investment that makes my life easier.

There are cheaper options to obtain clean water. One that I wish I had known about when I started growing CP’s is the Zero Water pitcher, which is more cost effective for smaller collections.


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How much waste is there with an RO system? Is it like 1 gallon of waste for every 1 gallon of RO H2O?

Supercazzola wrote:How much waste is there with an RO system? Is it like 1 gallon of waste for every 1 gallon of RO H2O?

It's roughly a 50/50 deal. Overall thoughm, if you have a large number of plants, an RO machine is the way to go. I would be hemorrhaging money if I had to buy the stuff. Using like 15 gallons a week. Machine has easily paid for itself. As for a unit, I just use a countertop 5 stage RO system cost about 200 dollar IIRC

Supercazzola wrote:How much waste is there with an RO system? Is it like 1 gallon of waste for every 1 gallon of RO H2O?

The bulk reef supply website lists the waste water to product water ratio for mine as 3:1. But I think it also depends on the water pressure from the tap.


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I used to have one for my coral tank. I’m probably going to need to buy something soon, at least until the rainy season starts here in FL. Then I will have more than I will know what to do with. But the rain is at 12-14 ppm.